Indonesia: UNJLC Bulletin No. 47 Indian Ocean Tsunami Operation

1.SECURITY
On Sunday 24 July at 22:42 hours an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 occurred in the Nicobar Islands, 447 km NW of Banda Aceh. Following the Japan Meteorological Agency's issuing of a tsunami warning for the Indian Ocean including the coast of Sumatra, DSS and DASC instructed UN staff in Nias, Simeulue and Calang to move to high ground until 02:00 hours.

It was reported that some UN staff were slow to react to the instructions issued by the DASC & DSS to move to high ground and thus all staff are cautioned that the absence of a strongly felt earthquake does not mean there is no tsunami warning/danger. On 26 Dec 2004 Sri Lankans did not feel the earthquake but they were severely affected by the tsunami.

The Government of Indonesia has agreed to begin a withdrawal of troops from Aceh in order to bring an end to almost 3 decades of violence between the Indonesian military and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)

2.CRITICAL ISSUES

Nothing significant to report.

3.GENERAL

Currently, the UNJLC Sumatra Assessment Team is nearing completion of its project on logistics capabilities and assessment in Sumatra. The final report will include fuel depot locations and capacity, a comprehensive port database, construction materials prices, private and port warehouse detail, main supply routes and an airport database. Detailed reports (Logistics Capacity Assessment) will be made available after the teams return at end of July 2005.

UNJLC stressed the importance of timely submission of the Monthly Projection forms containing agency forecasts of logistics activities. Please submit a completed Monthly Projection for the subsequent month's activities by 15th of each month. These are available at www.UNJLC.org.

Information on all existing imported vehicles is required to be submitted to the customs authorities of Banda Aceh and Medan for verification and documentation. UNJLC is acting as the focal point for the consolidation and forward submission to Customs authorities. UNJLC recently contacted to all known agency personnel via email requesting that completed surveys be sent to allanng.hb@wfp.org by July 29. UNJLC has also posted the Vehicle Data Survey Form on the UNJLC website for convenience. Agencies who do not submit surveys to UNJLC by 29 July 05 will be responsible for submitting the information directly to customs.

4.Bilateral Support/CMCOORD/Transition to Civilian Operation

UN OCHA and the UNJLC Banda Aceh CMCoord Officer conducted an introductory visit with the secretary of the Bupati Office, Calang on 21July 2005. Views were exchanged on the need to establish a cordial and cooperative relationship amongst the humanitarian agencies and the local authority, the police and the TNI. As an initiation, the Bupati Office, Calang will organize a friendship gathering involving the humanitarian agencies and the local authorities including the Police and the TNI. The tentative date for this occasion is set for 29 July 2005.

5.LAND

Road Network

Generally the road network within the capital of Banda Aceh remains good. A road assessment from Banda Aceh to Lamno was carried out on 25th July 2005 and confirmed a stretch of impassable route located 20km from Lamno at (LAT N 5º 11' 09.68", LON E 95º 17' 42.38"). This stretch of route was sand-filled and passable only to 4x4 drive vehicles

Major Humanitarian Supply Land Routes - this information is in addition to that published in the UNJLC Weekly Bulletin of July 19, 2005. Some information may be repeated.

Condition of key supply roads in Aceh Province

a Between Medan - Lhokseumawe - Medan

No major damage reported

b.Between Medan - Berastagi - Tapaktuan - Meulaboh

This is the alternative route to Meulaboh. The road from Berastagi to Blang Pidie is narrow and hilly with gullies and sharp curves. The road from Blang Pidie to Meulaboh is in poor condition with cracks along the length for approximately 75km of road.

c.Between Banda Aceh - Lamno

Assessors encountered a stretch of sand-filled bed located approximately 20km from Lamno passable only to 4x 4 drive vehicles not exceeding 3 MT..

6.SEA

Nothing significant to report.

7.AIR

UNHAS AIR TRANSPORT PASSENGER NEW DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENT effective from Monday 25 Jul 05 requires all passengers to produce at boarding:

1.Photo identification

2.A signed hard copy of their PMR (Passenger Movement Request), duly signed by an authorized officer.

3.A duly authorized Security Clearance (UN staff only). New requirements will be strictly enforced - Personnel without these documents will not be permitted to fly.

Source: UNHAS

Passenger NO SHOW(booked passengers who neither show up for flights nor cancel in advance) numbers for the period 01 Jun - 15 July indicate that NO SHOWS as a percentage of passengers booked has decreased since the last reporting on this statistic. However, according to the User Group Committee high occurrence of No Show passengers continues to be a problem for certain agencies. The Air User Group Committee reports that, in an attempt to combat the problem, a list of June No Shows will be sent along with a letter from the UN Coordinator to Heads of Agencies making public the No Show statistics. Unless agencies are able to improve the situation then with effect from 01 Aug 05 any agency with three No Shows in one week will be banned from booking passengers for one week. In addition, any individual who is a No Show after flight confirmation is to be banned from UNHAS flights for one week.

As of 25 July 2005, the new UNHAS flight schedule will be in effect with the Dash 7 aircraft. The Dash 7 will operate only on Saturdays on the route Banda Aceh-Meulaboh-Medan-Meulaboh-Banda Aceh. The Medan-based Twin Otter with a capacity of 12 passengers will operate to/from Simeulue on Tuesdays and Thursdays via Meulaboh. Please refer to the UNJLC website for the current UNHAS flight schedule.

Reminder of priority for cargo air movement:

• Priority 1: Medical (medicines, vaccines, urgent medical equipment)
• Priority 2: Inter-Agency Communication and IT equipment for MOSS compliancy
• Priority 3: Food, Aviation Fuel, Diesel, Shelter Materials, WATSAN equipment, Communications and IT equipment
• Priority 4: Generators, Vehicles, Staff Support Equipment, Spare Parts
• Priority 5: Programme Support
• Priority 6: Construction Material
• Priority 7: Office Supplies, Furniture

Repair work on the ramp at the Sultan Islander Muda, Military Airport has been resumed by UNDP and should be completed during the 1st week of August 2005.

The handover of air operations from UNJLC to UNHAS is reaching completion. UNJLC will continue to publish UNHAS flight schedules, and Passenger and Cargo Procedures on the UNJLC website. UN Humanitarian Air Service users should watch the UNJLC Air Operations pages for any changes to procedures installed by UNHAS. UNJLC is pleased to have been able to service the humanitarian community during the emergency phase of the tsunami relief operations.

Garuda Indonesia offers 50% of Cargo Rate on humanitarian freight to Banda Aceh. All cargo shipments must be authorized through UNHAS and agencies will finalize arrangements and payment directly with Garuda. Questions should be directed to UNHAS staff, Jakarta - contacts and numbers are available at www.UNJLC.com.

8.WAREHOUSING

Nothing significant to report.

9.GEOGRAPHIC HUBS

NIAS

IOM has tabulated a Materials Distribution Assessment/Projection form - Nias for all agencies involved in the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction in Nias for the period September 2005 to June 2006. (The form may be adopted for other districts/areas' of materials distribution projection in the future.) Kindly complete these forms according to each organisation's projected activity for Nias and return to the nearest IOM offices or email trahardjotdy@iom.int and copy UNJLC maksalmina@wfp.org.. The form which was emailed to the logisticians email list may also be downloaded from www.UNJLC.org and is available at any IOM office.

MEDAN - BELAWAN PORT

UNJLC Banda Aceh has received a written thank you from the BRR Director for work carried out to clear the Belawan Port. The note cites that the recent container numbers are impressive as the standard operational process installed has eliminated the bottleneck.

10.MEETINGS

The weekly Banda Aceh Logistics Coordination meeting is held in the WFP meeting room, UN compound, Jl. Sudirman No 69 Tuesdays at 1600hrs.

ABOUT UNJLC

UNJLC is an inter-agency facility reporting during an emergency to the Humanitarian Coordinator and overall to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Its mandate is to coordinate and optimize the logistics capabilities of humanitarian organizations in large-scale emergencies. UNJLC operates under the custodianship of WFP who is responsible for the administrative and financial management of the Centre. UNJLC is funded from voluntary contributions channeled through WFP. More information on UNJLC in general and on the South Asia operation can be viewed on the UNJLC website (www.unjlc.org)